Artist - The Commodores
Electric Bass - Ronald LaPread
Difficulty - Intermediate
This weeks transcription is one i’ve enjoyed playing for over a decade now, and me sitting down and transcribing it in full is somewhat overdue!
I played several Commodores tunes while I was working on ships in the Caribbean but this one never failed to get the audience moving. Ronald LaPread’s line really drives the song forward and the blend of on and off beat rhythmic elements means that, although the line is quite repetitive when you analyse it, it’s never boring to listen to and certainly not to play.
There are little things worth paying attention to, not least of which is the quick switches between the fingerstyle and the little ‘pops’, something that is often overlooked with slap playing. The technique tends to be used (within popular music) as an addition to a fingerstyle groove rather than as a standalone technique and it’s something I might touch on in a lesson at some stage. In addition to these there is the bridge unison line at letter F, always fun to nail down!
Have fun!
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